Summit Volunteers 2010-2011 : The Kitchen

Sunday, May 8, 2011

I can't believe it is over. Wow, the year flew by. My summit experience has been great. It had its ups and downs, but overall it was great. I really benefited from the classes that help me really learn more about myself and others. For example the colors assessment was great and it made sense when compared to the summit community. One of the greatest things I have learned is that you have to learn to be adaptable. Circumstances and even people change but I need to keep my head in the game and keep truckin'. With the Kitchen, I feel like I have truly made an impact on the Springfield community. The people I met who were often sad and depressed were able to cheer up when being involved in a simple conversation. Being in summit really pushed me to be more active in my community, and I know that without being in summit this year I would probably not have had the great experiences and might not have enjoyed Drury as much as I have. The only thing I might have changed in the summit experience was the Stress Free course. It didn't seemed to be so beneficial, but I do say that it was interesting to see the different types of wellness programs Drury has to offer. My only advice to future summit groups is to always keep a good communication with each other and your advisors.

Friday, May 6, 2011

What a year its been in Summit Park. It's been a year of firsts for me, its been the first time I've experienced apartment life, the first time I've worked in a clinic, and the first time I've really spent time working in a field outside my usual interests. If I were to describe my time in Summit park in just one sentence, I would say that it's been an exciting and compelling process from start to finish, where every visit to the Kitchen Clinic provided a new experience, and every Summit Park event provided a new memory - from the yoga classes to the backyard Summit barbecues.

There's many parts of my time at Summit that will stick with me well into the future. For instance, taking time to volunteer to help out the community has become an important part of my schooling, helping me to be more community minded, especially important for my field of study: architecture. The useful tips on everything from budgeting to resumes will stick with me well into professional life, where I hope to be in both a successful career and home life. The greatest impact Summit had on me wasn't so much the volunteering, as the relationships I've gained at the clinic, as well as in our own apartment.

Together, I believe our group has made a lasting impression on our community. Not only did we get to be a friendly face to the many faces of Springfield as they came in for treatment, but we also showed the clinic staff that a new generation was interested in taking action to help out the local community. If it wasn't for living in Summit Park I wouldn't have learned these valuable lessons, leaving me with a purely internal educational focus.

If I could change one thing from this past year, I would seek to spend more time developing a strong resume. I felt almost as if we didn't nearly as much time in development as we could have. Mostly though, I've had a great time in Summit Park, and really wouldn't change much at all. My advice to new incoming Summit Parker's is this, plan ahead to fit volunteer hours into your semester, don't stick to minimums.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

My summit experience has been busy but very exciting to meet so many new people. My volunteer hours with the Kitchen Clinic will look very good on my resume especially when applying for a position as a Physical Therapist. The experience with working with others in the same house will also be beneficial in the future because I will be staying with people in the future. The greatest thing I learned from summit was living in a house for the first time on my own without parents or family to be on to me about things such as laundry, dishes, cleaning house and time management. It taught me very quickly how to cook for myself, do my own laundry (I know sad, but true. lol), and time management. The biggest impact we have made with the kitchen clinic I would say is the DVDs and Books that we purchased for their lobby which will leave a lasting impact on the place. If I had not been able to do Summit, I most likely would have been living off campus again and most likely would not have met as many people. I also most likely would have been late to several more classes than normal. Another thing is that I would not have had the volunteer hours without doing summit because without the motivation I would most likely have not made the time for it being a student athlete. The only thing I would change about the Summit experience would be the time the class meets once a month. I would prefer it to meet earlier in the day but I know that is hard to do considering many other classes meet during the early parts of the day. I would at least change the day to a Thursday, that way people can still make plans for friday night, or go home or athletes don't have to worry about missing class due to track meets and games on fridays. I would tell future summit groups to make sure they stay in good communication with each member as well as the agency they were associated with.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

This semester has been extremely busy, both for me as a student, and for the Kitchen and the always occupied waiting rooms. This Spring I've personally had the opportunity to expand my role at the Clinic from just being an "escort" to taking on more administrative type tasks. Honestly, I prefer it that way as I've never been much of a people person (especially sick people). I like to be behind the scenes doing the often tedious tasks like importing packing slips into the computer. So, for me this semester has been an opportunity to learn more about how a clinic works as a synergistic whole.

In recent times the Kitchen acquired new office furniture for the spring Missouri State students who intern at the facility, giving me the opportunity to bring my "crafting" skills from architecture into a clinic. I say this knowing that I was able to assemble two desks and an office chair before the clinic staff finished one. This was probably my most enjoyable experience at the clinic. Even while being a minor, if not silly, task, I found that it was just a hair closer to architecture than the usual unpronounceable medical jargon I've come to know there.

The biggest obstacle I've faced in regards to my volunteering at the clinic has just been getting there. I've been so busy with Architecture that I've not been able to make it every week to volunteer. Luckily my largest project finished up at the beginning of the month, giving me a few extra hours a week to volunteer. I've officially began visiting the clinic twice a week to make up for the lost time. I'm just glad the MSU volunteers are in the clinic this semester to make the operation of the clinic easier on the staff.

With the time we have remaining we will have to decide what the best use of our money will be. With pharmaceuticals costing so much, and many other products being provided already it will be a difficult decision to decide what to do for the Kitchen. Whatever we decide, we've definitely made an effort to have at least one of us there every week to provide a little bit of help.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Well so far this month I have not been able to make it in to the kitchen due to track and being that its nearing the end I've had many test and papers pile up on me. As it is still early in the month though, I plan on going in tomorrow (wed.) and Thursday of this week to make up some lost time. So far I assume my duties have not changed. The one project we plan on finishing before the year ends is using our allotted funds to buy the kitchen what we agreed would be a more lasting touch with such a small budget. We agreed that buying them educational movies, magazines would be great, because they are planning on buying a flat screen TV soon so it will work out well. Movies,magazines, and books can be used over and over again unlike if we used the money to buy maybe one thing of medicine. All we need to do is get the list of which ones they would like and then organize a time to go out and purchase them.

This month flew by so fast! I only managed to make it into the kitchen 3 times due to school and track obligations. However this year so far my duties have changed dramatically. I now work the phones and use the computer to enter perscriptions into the database. It is not quite as rewarding as directly working with people, but at least I do still feel of some use. Every time I go in I manage to enter stacks of those perscriptions which I know is a big hassel to the kitchen members so I know they appreciate that. I also managed to get my fellow track team member involved in volunteering there starting this past month and he has done a great job from what I hear. He is a spanish major looking to further his submersion in the language so he has been a lot of help there working as an interpreter, often times by himself so I'm not sure how they managed without him! Overall I think its been a good month.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

I have finally gotten my schedule fixed so I can be back in the clinic! It is a rewarding feeling but it resulted from dropping a class, so the feelings are bittersweet. During my hiatus, I have still been informed about general happenings at the clinic but more than anything its the people I miss that I worked with for the last seven months. I'm excited to see them all soon but first SPRING BREAK!
Ben